ENGL 264The Age of Reason & Revolution•
5 Cr.

Department

Division

Description:

Surveys literary figures, styles, and themes of the 17th and 18th centuries. Authors and works vary, but typically include Donne, Milton, Pope, Goldsmith, Jonson, Swift, and Johnson. Students also discuss early periodicals and novels. Recommended: ENGL& 101 or ENGL 201 or a literature course in the 100 series.

Outcomes:

After completing this class, students should be able to:

To learn the role of Eighteenth-Century Literature in the larger history of English literature.

To understand how the economic, social, political, and religious conditions of the 18th century affected poets, novelists, and writers of the time.

To understand and be able to use the terminology of literature and literary analysis

To become adept at the processes of analysis and synthesis, of your reading and in your writing.

To develop the skill of asking insightful questions of literature and examining the various responses.

To become comfortable with ambiguity and to move away from needing precise yes or no/lack and white answers.

To develop oral presentation skills (individual and/or as part of a group).

To practice good group skills: how to give useful feedback, and how to make use of feedback you receive.

To develop self-assessment skills.

To improve inferential reading skills, using prose, drama, and poetry.